Meet Average Hay

I have a dream...that one day someone will read this blog who does not already know this information... so in case that dream is fulfilled, it is time to introduce myself.

I look like this

Just kidding, I usually look like this

But I used to look like this (which, lets be honest is more or less the same).

My husband looks like this, and his name is Jonathan

We were married in August 2012 after we met at Brigham Young University where we both graduated from in April 2014. He in Exercise Science and I with an undergrad and masters in Sociology. 

Our baby looks like this (Due April 2015) and we call him "Sprout"

We currently live in Berkeley (and yes, it is totally different than Provo, which is a whole other post worth of stories)

I am attempting my PhD in Sociology and Demography at UC Berkeley. My interests include fertility (most broadly), a little more narrow is maternal and child health in developing countries. 

We love to travel and have reached Asia, Africa, Europe, Central America, and of course North America. We have maps covering our house and I secretly hope to teach Sprout where every country is located.

My most lesson-learning experiences took place in Uganda where I spent a summer conducting research in rural health centers and hospitals. My life was forever changed when I saw the things I saw. Which again provides stories for many more posts to come. 

I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It teaches me to love others, to love myself, and to love my God. 

I believe that this world is good, and the people in it have a lot to offer. Which is why I have dedicated my time to learning about people and how to safely deliver them into this world. 

I love my people- my family and friends mean the world to me. 

I like to be healthy, but I also love anything baked and bread-y and sweet so there's that irony for ya.

I even convinced myself to run some marathons, maybe i'll do that again once I have this baby, but maybe I won't, I like to keep everyone on their toes. 

So there I am. Quite average if you ask me. 

But the great thing about people is that my normal is not your normal, which is why we are interesting to each other. We all have something to contribute to the great big world we live in. Which is why I can justify throwing my silly blog into the 152,000,000 that are out there. 

“Never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary.” 

― Oscar Wilde

So while I feel average and ordinary, there is no need to waste time treating other people as such. Here on this blog, average does not need to be a bad thing, it can be a relatable thing. 

People can relate here because we are all average in our own way. 

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.” 

― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

When we accept ourselves as "average in our own way", we open ourselves up to love us for us and to love others for just who they are as well. 

Let the Games, ehem I mean Blog Begin

I've had this overwhelming feeling lately, I can't quite describe it, but it's something along the lines of displaced.

I can't figure out if it is because I took on a pregnancy, move, and PhD program at the same time, or if i'm missing something I should be doing, or doing something I shouldn't be doing, but no matter the cause, the feeling exists regardless.


Another feeling I have been having lately, but a little more able to describe is the need to start a blog- which is weird...because I have a blog. But this feeling involved a new blog that didn't exist.

So here I find myself trying to fill a void by...starting a new blog.


Name: Average Hay

Why the name: Because I am just that- average. I feel I have nothing out of the ordinary to contribute as far as the blog world is concerned. And, my name is Hayley

According to this source 152,000,000 blogs exist on the internet and a new blog is created somewhere in the world every half second.

That is a lot of blogs! It makes me feel overwhelmed to think I am trying to add one more to the mix, but then again, it makes me feel like why not?

Finding my place within this blog world is the next problem.


I mean, I wear clothes, and sometimes I put a lot of thought into those clothes- but by no means can that make me a fashion blogger.

I eat food, and sometimes (rarely) I cook that food- but again, that doesn't make me a food blogger.

I exercise and try to be healthy, I worked by butt of to lose 25 pounds for goodness sake by running 2 marathons- but I was slow, and relatively undedicated- so thus, not a fitness blogger.

I have a lot of years of higher education under my belt, and i'm working on my PhD in Sociology and Demography at UC Berkeley but...I can hardly write this with remotely proper grammar, and I often feel more overwhelmed than in control- so that doesn't make me much of a social commentator or an academic blogger.

I live a life, so I suppose I can fall under the title of "lifestyle blogger" but my life isn't filled with pretty pictures and seemingly perfect days.



So why would you read on? Why would you be interested in my life?

Honestly, i'm not quite sure, but I hope I can figure that out soon because this feeling to start a blog is real, and it won't leave me alone until I try it.


So here I am, filling the void and starting this blog.

It, like me, will be relatively displaced within this big blogger world.

But it will tell stories of my mostly average life and coming to terms with it- because honestly...aren't most of us simply average anyway? I'm hoping a lot of my days are above average, and I expect for many to be below, but regardless I hope to share them as they are. No sugar coating.

There may be clothes, food, fitness, academics, really, anything is fair game.

So please, stay awhile. Help me figure out how to make this average life seem applicable and relevant to you, fellow average reader.